Year 12 FCJ College graduate Rachel Ham was named Dux of the school was excited to be offered a scholarship at Melbourne's Monash University a few weeks ago. Photo by Randall Johnston

With an impressive score of 95.9, the 19-year-old from Goorambat said she wanted to thank everyone who had helped her in her studies over the years.

Miss Ham received the good news shortly after checking her exam results online on December 16.

‘‘I was surprised,’’ she said.

‘‘I just needed a score of 90 or more to get into my course, that’s all I was hoping for.

‘‘Maybe I was kind of dreaming about a (score of) 93.

‘‘My parents are really happy.

‘‘Mum wanted to wake me up first thing on the morning our results came out.’’

It was not long afterwards that Miss Ham received a phone call from Monash University offering her a scholarship, which will help to pay for some of her course fees and accommodation each year.

She said her favourite subject last year was Methods (math).

‘‘Our Methods teacher Mrs (Selina) Chanko has been great.

‘‘You could tell she genuinely cared about our results and really just wanted us to do our best.

‘‘She even ran after-school classes every week for the whole year; they did that for chemistry as well and that helped a lot.’’

Miss Ham also enjoys languages, Swedish in particular.

‘‘I spent a year studying in Stockholm in 2010 with the Rotary Exchange Program.

‘‘That was an experience I really enjoyed. I’m quite glad that I’ve done some travelling, learnt another language and experienced another culture already.’’

Miss Ham has quite a few friends who will be moving to Melbourne to start their first-year studies this year, some opting to enrol at Monash also — which should help make the big move at the end on February easier.

First-round offers for first-year placements at Monash University’s Clayton Campus are expected to come through in a few weeks’ time.

In addition to her academic studies, Miss Ham was House Captain and also contributed to the school through sporting endeavours.

‘‘I play soccer for the Rovers and the school team.

‘‘We (the FCJ soccer team) made it to the regional finals at Bendigo last year.’’